


The Case of the Missing Spoon

by alex987854



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-15
Updated: 2012-11-15
Packaged: 2017-11-18 18:16:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/563992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alex987854/pseuds/alex987854
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Mrs Hudson Mystery</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Case of the Missing Spoon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pandabob](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pandabob/gifts).



"Sherlock, dear. Have you borrowed my blue measuring spoon? I need it to measure the sugar for this cake."

Mrs Hudson had been baking all morning while Sherlock sat and failed to read the newspapers. The case wasn't going well, but the only thing to do was wait for the information to come in. That had never meant that Sherlock was able to put it aside and do something else. Unless it was another case, but there was no other case. 

"Where did you last have it?" Process is everything when there's a problem to be solved. 

"I was using it yesterday to make the scones that John took with him to Mycroft's, and I put it on its little hook. It can't have gone off on its own."

Sherlock considered the mystery for a few seconds. 

Alien abduction: amusing but unlikely.  
International crime: while a blue plastic spoon could be used to measure drugs, scales would seem more accurate. John had a nice digital set that Sherlock and stepped on last week, the pieces currently sitting in a desk drawer.  
Put in the wrong place: Almost certainly, although the best evidence would be finding them in the wrong place.

"You've probably put it the wrong place, Mrs Hudson." Sherlock settled back in his chair, and picked up the newspaper.

Five minutes later he put the paper down. "Mrs Hudson, have you found it yet?"

"No dear, and check your phone. It just made a noise."

A text from John  
7437568503609680926802072669

"John seems to have lost his mind. Or my brother is getting him to send me puzzles to keep me occupied and out of trouble."

"What does it say dear?"

Sherlock showed her the text, just as the phone played the first few bars of Rule Britannia. Another text. 

Oa9deapqhiaaifqdl?ai3bvntkohpirrqfz

Some sort of code? Pocket texting? It couldn't be that, both of them accidentally texting him one after the other. A code then. Not the same code. Not that it mattered in the least; just the boys trying to entertain him. It wouldn't work. Not a case and therefore uninteresting. 

As he couldn't concentrate on the papers, Sherlock decided to review the case. 

A team of builders (Should that be a whoop? A misogyny? What is the collective noun for builders?) had attempted to abseil down the side of a house, They’d securely tied their ropes to a solid metal ring, which would have worked had they fixed the ring to anything. 

A bank worker who had counted all the notes with perfect accuracy. Bank notes, sticky notes, memos, but not notices or any other paper. 

John had done some analysis on the builder's sand, and on some of the banknotes, but he'd gone on so much about not being able to find his scales that Sherlock had given up that morning and sent the samples to a lab and John to Mycroft's flat. So now he was stuck. Nothing to do but wait, and put up with idiots texting him puzzles. He went back to not looking at the papers, only distracted by Mrs Hudson hunting around.

“Be careful of John’s table, Mrs Hudson. I’m not sure he’s cleared up properly.”

There was a silence. Sherlock looked up at Mrs Hudson. She was poking her finger into the air.

“Sherlock. You should go and find John and Mycroft. I think they may do something very silly.”

“Have you solved it? I have to admit, I don’t get their little puzzle at all.”

“You didn't work in Mycroft’s Cypher Section for ten years, and there are only so many ways to mess up a text. Turning off the predictive text and using upside down are the two most obvious ways. John’s been using my spoon to try and measure since you broke his scales and he probably won’t get new ones until you admit to it, and I used it to measure when I was making the scones last night, and whatever it is has got into them.”

Sherlock was already at the door and running.


End file.
